1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to coverings for architectural openings and more particularly to a covering that is housed within a frame and adapted to be secured to a building structure in an architectural opening.
2. Description of Relevant Art
Coverings for architectural openings have taken numerous forms for many years with early coverings simply being draperies that were draped around or across architectural openings such as windows, doorways, archways and the like. Through the years, coverings for architectural openings have assumed more modern looks and today include retractable draperies, curtains and various types of cellular or slatted covering such as venetian blinds and vertical blinds, all of which can be extended across an architectural opening or retracted to a side or sides of the opening.
Most coverings for architectural openings are freely suspended and hang by gravity and such an arrangement is satisfactory when the architectural opening itself is fixed, as the covering retains its relationship to the opening at all times. However, when an architectural opening is in a movable part of a building structure, for example, in a door or movable partition, unless the covering on the opening is confined, it will swing freely as the door or partition is moved, which can become a nuisance thereby discouraging people from using coverings on openings in such movable structures.
Also, whether or not the architectural opening is in a movable part of a building structure, it is sometimes undesirable to have pull cords, tilt wands or the like for operating the covering, with such cords and wands typically hanging freely adjacent one or both sides of the architectural opening. Such pull cords and wands are undesirable aesthetically to some people and, furthermore, pull cords have posed a hazard for young children who have been known to have body parts entangled in the pull cords causing bodily harm.
The present invention has been designed to overcome the problems previously associated with using a covering on an opening in a movable structure and to overcome shortcomings associated with dangling pull cords, tilt wands and the like.